It’s not hard to find people taking selfies on the streets. Each day, one million selfies are taken on earth (Gram 2015) and more than 200 million photos have been posted on Instagram with the hashtag, #selfie. Apparently, we live in the era of the selfie. But why do people take selfies? The reason is not as simple as having an abundance of narcissists in front of mirrors, but is rather related to the performance of social acts. People take selfies, not to save them in private camera rolls, but to share them on social networks such as Instagram. Taking selfies thus refers, not to an individual act, but to a social act (Cole 2014). In his concept of the “looking-glass self,” Charles Horton Cooley stated that we see ourselves based on how we think others perceive us. The more “likes” a selfie receives, the more confidence the selfie-taker gains and the more he or she feels popular. As such, it is possible for a person to spend a long time taking, retaking, and editing …

Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them — and then, the opportunity to choose. -C.Wright Mills Caricature made by Karen Liao.

The protest that ensued from such a plain design tells us of the determination of some groups to impose their beliefs and interpretations on others and the stubbornness in thinking that one way of life holds true over other ways of life. While the Starbucks cup non-issue might appear trivial amidst the troubles of the world, we can see it as an invitation to reflect on the reasons for why we celebrate, or think we should celebrate, certain events.

According to Sapir and Whorf, language is the lens by which we see the world. Language is enriched as we define and redefine everyday realities, and new articulations, through an agreement on the meanings of letter combinations, emerge. Over the years, what is oral – words we would hear only in informal conversations among certain social groups – start to seep into mainstream culture and even become part of the lexicon. And as shown in the picture, this has also allowed us to perceive everyday realities in more colorful ways.

As Pope Francis visits the Philippines, a number of scholars have expressed concern over the ways that his presence can/will further inequality in the country – with the rich having an upper hand and the poor remaining in the margins, and whether or not his visit can bring about more equitable, democratic structures.

Seeing the altar boys during midnight masses reminds of the time when I, too, served as an altar boy in pre-Vatican times. I would outwit other altar boys to be one of the priest’s “sakristan” in morning masses and do the best I can so the priest would choose me again the next time around.